Why, What, and How to Automate Documents

Have you ever stopped to count your company’s throughput of daily documents and emails? Consider all of the requests, quotes, documents, agreements, invoices, financial statements, and email messages that your workforce handles. It could easily amount to hundreds of documents and emails per day.

And each type of document necessitates a separate set of procedures. Text generation, contact information research, update, saving, sending, signing, processing, and archiving. All this admin work takes a lot of time and effort from your personnel. The smart way to manage documentation cycles is the automation way.

Document Automation

Automating administrative processes and manual tasks is on the increase. Organizations are looking to digitize and automate specific processes that do not need a human resource every step of the way. Automation is a series of administrative actions in a fixed sequence to automatically manage your company’s documentation. Steps can be automated and user requests can activate the workflow.

First: Digitization

Automation is using software to run documentation processes but before you start, there is one big step you need to take first – and that is Digitization. When you digitize a document process, you are eliminating pen, paper, printing, copying, faxing, and posting, and document storage from the process. Making document changes, and signing are also done electronically without ever having to handle a physical piece of paper.  

Users who frequently need to create routine documents at scale and who are overwhelmed by the substantial effort that goes into creating and sharing documents would benefit the most from document automation. It is commonly used by legal teams to enable colleagues and clients to self-serve on basic legal paperwork. Human Resources is another department that reap rewards from automation. Contracts, personal information forms, performance reviews, and more are just some of the documents that can be standardized in a template and routed to approvers and the employee to sign off or change and then send back.

There are many use cases for document automation and the most common are contracts such as Non-disclosure Agreements (NDAs), Service Level Agreements (SLAs), Letters of Offers, and Employment Contracts. Standard contracts and letters are ideal for getting started with document automation. Templated agreements can be swiftly generated and pushed through to signature without a lot of back and forth or friction.

When you’re starting a new project, you want to be picky about the documents and processes you automate first. Templates with smart form field inputs speeds up the document cycle and minimizes human error. It is also a good opportunity to improve on existing forms and update content used in processes. Get consensus on the templates to be used and prepare for automation.

Second: Automation

Examine the document’s current workflow and determine how to speed up this process by making the updated template available to everyone. Document automation can help you save time on accessibility and visibility to specified users with permission roles. With multiple users accessing the same template, version control is maintained to keep track of all user activity on all documents.

Instructing teams on how to utilize the new documents, and understand what benefits to expect will equip everyone in adopting and embracing change. Create a naming standard and digital filing system that clearly describes what and where certain documents are saved so it is easy for employees to readily find records. With that, and a document solution in place, you can start using your new templates and workflow with your clients and customers.

Cloud-based document systems are typically ideal for a hybrid work arrangements, and for colleagues who spend time on the road for business, yet many businesses still prefer to save their documents on private intranets. A document management solution that is flexible will fit an on-site or cloud infrastructure.

Third: Evaluate and Communicate

Set aside time every few weeks to assess how well document automation is working for you. Fine-tune your processes as needed to keep your business and workflows functioning smoothly. If you’ve made modifications to the appearance of your forms and documents, you can announce them in a newsletter to staff and clients and communicate your new look. It helps clarify new documents with your clients while showing that you care and are continually striving to improve your service.

The Best Route to Efficiency

By automating document control, you may eliminate the stress, irritation, and constant management that comes with managing documents. When document control is managed manually, it is not only prone to human error, but it can spiral into chaos if it not organized properly or made to scale with the company’s needs.

KRIS Document Management System (DMS) removes the challenges with manually creating and managing documents so you can streamline processes throughout your organization. You can also customize your document control system, track and request document signatures, secure backups and integrate with Outlook to automatically handle attachment files.